Oceania to buy the Ocean Princess, expand fleet of mid-size ships

One of Oceania Cruises’ other “R” ships in Sydney, Australia. The Sirena, built from the same plans, will be identical after a $40 million refurbishment.
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Oceania Cruises

Oceania Cruises will buy the Ocean Princess, a 15-year-old, 684-passenger ship from Princess Cruises and rename it Sirena.

The ship, one of the original “R” ships from the defunct Renaissance Cruises, will join the fleet in spring 2016 after a $40 million makeover. Oceania already has three refurbished “R” ships — the Insignia, Nautica and Regatta. Sirena’s 35-day makeover will mimic the recent refurbishment of the Insignia, and it will get the same specialty restaurants, Toscana and Polo Grill, as Oceania’s other ships.

The ship will begin doing cruises as Sirena in late April 2016. Its itineraries will be announced in late February of 2015, and Oceania will begin taking reservations for it on March 4.

“The addition of Sirena opens up an entire array of new itinerary options for Oceania Cruises as we think about our deployment strategy,” said Kunai S. Kamlani, Oceania’s president and CEO.

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The purchase was announced Tuesday by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which last week acquired Prestige Cruises International, Oceania’s parent company. Oceania has five ships — the three “R” ships plus the newer, larger Marina and Riviera.

The Ocean Princess is Princess Cruises’ smallest ship and has mostly sailed to smaller and more exotic ports. It will make its first visit to Port Everglades in December after a repositioning cruise from Europe, do a Caribbean cruise, then head to the South Pacific for the season.

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